Pitbull attack victim wants sibling behind bars

Liz Smith wants her sister to go to prison so she can't hurt anyone else - and is still traumatised by the attack.

"At the moment I do feel quite upset as Phillipa [Bayley] is still my sister ... I couldn't believe she could tell such terrible lies during the trial. I didn't touch her, I never touched her before she attacked me. She's been a bully all her life," she told the Bay of Plenty Times from her Kawerau home last night.

Ms Smith said the night of the attack wasn't a boozy night for her and any suggestion she had drunk a lot was wrong.

"Once she started hitting me, she just went crazy and couldn't stop ... I have a lot of post traumatic syndrome from what happened that night. I haven't slept more than an hour and a half ... every time I close my eyes I have nightmares about Phillipa and her dog attacking me. It was eating me," she said.

Ms Smith said seeing police photographs of her sister taken that night were upsetting as Bayley looked so contented about what she had done.

"She looked like she had totally gorged out on what she has done to me."

Since initial surgery, Ms Smith has had to have further treatment because of damage to her cleft palate, nose, both eardrums were split and she now has problems hearing. She also suffered brain damage and suffers vertigo.

"The trauma of what happened to me that night has manifested itself into so many impacts, I think this something that will stay with me for the rest of my life," she said.

Ms Smith said despite what happened she loved her sister, but did not want to see her again. "I want her to go to prison so she can't hurt anyone else."

She hoped her sister received therapy in prison, and would put her art skills to good use to help others in prison and emerged a better person.

Ms Smith wanted to thank the doctors and nurses who treated her in hospital, the Whakatane Work and Income staff who came to her home with a care package after she was discharged from hospital and all the others who have offered support through her ordeal.

She said also wanted to say a special thank you to the two police constables who stopped the attack.

"I will always be so grateful to them. They saved my life. Oh, my God, I was five seconds away from being killed."